(8/13/03) Will you see and hear these brave families on the
eveing news tonight? Or will SeeNotNews,
AnythingButSee, MustNotBeSeen, SeeBS,
PrettyBlandStuff, etc. ignore their poignant and
powerful declaration? Why not ignore them? The 9/11 families have
been shunted aside. The victims of Enron have been
shunted aside...If you do not see prominent and
unskewed coverage of this action on the evening news
tonight...Well, just remember Mussolini called it
"corporatism," not "fascism," thinking "corporatism'
more apt (about that much he was correct), and it is
"corporatism" that controls the "US mainstream news
media." I predict sadly you will hear more about the
_resident's ridiculous, feeble attempts to sound
credible on the nation's forests, or perhaps more
softballs lobbed for the Terminator...
http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/0813-03.htm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 13, 2003
11:02 AM
CONTACT: Bring Them Home Now
Ryan Fletcher 202-232-8997
Nancy Lessin 617-320-5301
Military Families and Veterans Demand End to the Occupation of Iraq; Immediate Return of All U.S. Troops to Home Duty Stations
WASHINGTON - August 13 - Galvanized to action by
George W. Bush's inane and reckless "Bring 'em on"
challenge to armed Iraqi's resisting occupation,
Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace and
other organizations based in the military community
will launch Bring Them Home Now, a campaign aimed at
ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq and returning
troops to their home bases at a press conference on
August 14 at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C.
US military casualties from the occupation of Iraq
have been more than twice the number most Americans
have been led to believe because of an extraordinarily
high number of accidents, suicides and other
non-combat deaths in the ranks that have gone largely
unreported in the media. The other underreported cost
of the war for US soldiers is the number of American
wounded-827, officially, since Operation Iraqi Freedom
began. (Unofficial figures are in the thousands.)
About half have been injured since Bush's triumphant
claim on board the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln at the
beginning of May that major combat was over.
The mission of the Bring them Home Now campaign is to
unite the voices of military families, veterans, and
GIs themselves to demanding: an end to the occupation
of Iraq and other misguided military adventures and an
immediate return of all US troops to their home duty
stations. On August 14 at Fort Bragg, Veterans and
Military Families will raise concerns about current
conditions in Iraq that their loved ones and other
troops are facing such as the lack of planning and
support troops are receiving, as well as questions
about the justifications used to send troops to Iraq
in the first place.
WHO: Military Families and Veterans (See list of
speakers below)
WHAT: Press Conference to launch the Bring Them Home
Now Campaign
WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 14, 10 a.m.
WHERE: Quaker House 223 Hillside Ave. Fayetteville NC
28301, 910-323-3912
Speakers Include:
Moderators: Nancy Lessin and Charley Richardson,
co-founders, Military Families Speak Out, an
organization of families opposed to the U.S. invasion
and now occupation of Iraq who all have loved ones in
the military. Their son Joe is a Marine who was
deployed in August 2002 and who returned from Iraq on
Memorial Day 2003.
Susan Schuman, from Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, is
the mother of Justin C. Schuman, a sergeant in the
Massachusetts National Guard. Justin was deployed to
Iraq from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on March 29,
2003, and is stationed in Samarra, north of Baghdad.
Michael T. McPhearson, a native of Fayetteville, North
Carolina was a field artillery officer of the 24th
Mechanized Infantry Division during Desert
Shield/Desert Storm. His military career includes 6
years of reserve service and 5 years active duty
service. Now living in Bloomfield, NJ and a member of
Veterans For Peace, Michael works as an activist and
facilitator to help bring about social and economic
justice. He is the father of an eighteen-year-old son
who is planning to join the Army in September.
Fernando Suarez del Solar, of Escondido, Calif., is
the father of Marine Lance Cpl Jesus Suarez, one of
the first U.S. servicemen killed in Iraq (March 27,
2003). Suarez is seeking the truth behind why his son
and others were sent to their deaths in Iraq.
Stan Goff, of Raleigh, N.C., began a military carrier
in the U.S. Army in 1970 and retired as a Special
Forces Master Sergeant in 1996. He served in Ranger,
Airborne and Special Forces counter-terrorist units,
in eight conflict areas. He has become an astute
commentator on military matters and an outspoken
critic of the US occupation of Iraq. His son Jessie
serves in the U.S. Army and has just been deployed to
Iraq.
Other military family members and veterans will be
present and available for questions.
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